Wade and others worry about the impact on Bridgeport’s already tainted-by-scandal reputation.

“It probably leads people to think, ‘Oh my God, here we go again’,’ said Paul Timpanelli, former longtime head of the Bridgeport Regional Business Council, who was back in town Wednesday having lunch with friends.

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Joe McGee, vice president of the Fairfield County Business Council, has long been involved in Bridgeport and its economy. McGee said from what he has read and heard, “I suspect this is not a big deal. ... Hopefully these are minor indiscretions — individual idiots — and not systematic municipal corruption.”

But McGee understands the fears stirred up by the FBI’s return.

“It’s like when you get a diagnosis for cancer,” McGee said. “You’re in remission. Then you go to the doctor and there’s a spot and it brings back all the memories of what happened before. That, I think, is the fear — ‘Oh my God. It’s back’.”

“I’m sorry the FBI is here. It bothers me,” said state Sen. Marilyn Moore, a Democrat like Ganim who recently announced she will challenge him for mayor. “It makes us look so bad in the legislature and outside the state.”

Ganim in an interview Wednesday reiterated that it was his police chief, Armando Perez, who notified federal authorities of the claims about scrap metal and no-bid contracts made in an anonymous letter to the City Council last fall.

“We want their help,” the mayor said. “They’re welcome and their investigation is what needs to happen to get to the bottom of some of these issues.”

Based on available information, the FBI is targeting the public facilities department, which was the focus of the anonymous allegations in the letter to the council.

Same old scrap

And Ganim in recent weeks, based on an internal review by his labor relations and law departments, has disciplined four public facilities employees.

Ganim has previously said he had no knowledge of any wrongdoing by city employees and that the scrap metal was being sold prior to his return to office in 2015. And the mayor frequently, including Wednesday, notes that other municipalities — Stamford, Fairfield and Greenwich — have had problems with unauthorized or illegal scrap metal sales by employees.

Ganim believes “one of the things the FBI’s doing is also sending a message out to other communities, because we know this scrap metal (problem) has gone on and continues to go on in other communities in Connecticut.”

When Hearst Connecticut Media first began reporting on the Bridgeport scandal in November, some city officials and political insiders privately dismissed it as a fabricated controversy by a disgruntled municipal employee. That was before the FBI case became public in January.

Former U.S. Attorney Stanley Twardy, Jr., a partner with the Day Pitney law firm in Stamford, said he has no involvement with or inside information about the federal investigation in Bridgeport.

But, Twardy said, “The fact they’re looking around would tell me they have something that they believe may lead them to possibly bring charges.”

“The U.S. Attorney and FBI are very sensitive to ensure that the cases they investigate warrant investigation because of the limited resources they have,” Twardy said. “So their standard for pursuing things has increased.”

Ganim said it is “unfair” for Moore to “politicize” the FBI investigation.

“Look, am I happy about it? No,” Ganim said. But he does not believe the situation hurts Bridgeport’s image because of how his administration has handled the controversy.

“I think people understand two things,” the mayor said. “We immediately reached out for consultation with (federal) law enforcement (and) the more digging we’ve done, this clearly predates this administration.”

Timpanelli, who had originally opposed Ganim’s re-election in 2015, said Wednesday, “I’m convinced the mayor knew nothing about it, so it doesn’t point to him. But it’s still a disappointment.”

State Rep. Ezequiel Santiago is the new chairman of Bridgeport’s legislative delegation. He also works in the city’s public facilities department.